Yesterday afternoon, in the city of Chicago, she came into this world weighing 8 pounds 8 ounces. I'll share more once the stork drops her off.
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Yes... The cavities are different... And no.. Sorry .. Not without modification.
EAST used to make a DJ specific preamp.
Not sure if he still does
2ndBassGuitar
Commercial User
- Jan 17, 2008
- 1,250
- 1,692
- Disclosures
- Dealer for Phil Jones Bass, Lakland, Brubaker Basses, Maruszczyk Instruments
I just told Chicago to install the J Retro in a DJ4 I ordered in Lake Placid Blue. Just taking a flyer on it. Does anyone here have experience with the J retro pre amps? Thoughts?
I have a J-Retro in my 55-60. I posted a write up a few pages back. Brief summary: I like mine. It adds alot of versatility and a very slightly beefier tone color to a J bass. IMO the sweepable mids are the best feature.
Quick question: Is the LH3 preamp normally much louder than passive mode? Mine definitely is. Sounds punchy as hell though.
Audere makes a preamp for DJ's or at least they did at one time, give 'em a call. I love my JZ3-NC!
It’s my understanding that the passive mode offered with the LH3 preamp is intended to be a sort of “limp home” mode, and is therefore much quieter. It’s been a while since this topic has come up, but I believe there is a gain pot inside the cover to adjust the volume of the LH3, though I seem to remember people saying it was pretty sensitive.
I’m sure someone will correct where I’ve erred.
Yeah, I don't see it as a problem, since I basically never play passive anyway. The preamp also seems to add a lot of clarity and punch, not just volume, which I really enjoy.
The fact that passive mode doesn't even have a tone control (that I can detect anyway) really indicates that this bass is designed to be played active.
Related question: What's everyone digging for mid frequency setting on the LH3?
Last edited:
Joeykun
pronounced ジョーイくん
- Jun 22, 2007
- 4,200
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- Endorsing: LAKLAND SADOWSKY GENZLER DARKGLASS NORDSTRAND TEMPLEBOARD KIRLIN DRSTRINGS ACCESS
I went thru them all and decided the default (600hz) was the best.
Although, I felt the LH3 is way too mid focused and treble is lacking for my tone goals. So, now my 55-AJ is with my tech being fitted with custom Nordstrand NJ5F single coil pups and the Nordstrand 2B+ preamp.
In my 55-02, passive is very low output and to me it’s unusable for anything other than a backup to a dead battery.
The gain trim pot is sensitive and there seems to be a sweet spot between anemic and overdriven. The mid eq adds a lot of gain so be mindful of that when boosting the preamp gain to avoid distortion. Set it and forget it.
The mid setting with the LH3 affects where the treble and bass Q points are, so experimenting can result in a ear fatigue quickly. I’ve experimented often trying to find a setting that adds brightness. So much so I weakened the solder points on the ends of the board and needed them resoldered. And I too often come back to 600hz every time. Funnily enough, I just installed some Prosteels and that is a game changer more so than any preamp setting I’ve tried. Had them on a few days now and I’m loving it. It’s like a different bass.
For grins, here’s my assessment of each setting (using pure blues and XL nickel strings):
450hz and lower seem too broad and distort quickly. There’s a lot of boost but it’s not usable without cutting the preamp gain. I don’t think the treble points are musical and the bass control starts to have less db impact because so much is in the mids. 450 cuts ok but every time I compare it to 500 and 600 it doesn’t seem as balanced or musical.
500hz is my favorite alternate. It seems to bring more girth to the mids and the treble bites more. Very familiar tone shaping. I find this has very usable eq points and the mids have some fatness without taking away from the bass control. I think this setting adds some sweetness or juiciness (??) to the treble point compared to 600 that is more open or transparent. I go back to this one most often.
550hz setting never worked for me. As in literally it disables the preamp eq controls. Maybe mine is broken but I think it’s just a buffered passive signal. I get some hiss too. I probably should have contacted them about this but it wasn’t important enough.
900hz is a tad high for boosting but has a nice scoop. Treble Q is narrow and glassier. Feels like there’s less boost in comparison. This isn’t a bad setting for a modern tone.
1100 I haven’t played with much. It doesn’t add much usable treble and I don’t really cut mids much.
My theory on why most people report they return to the 600hz default after experimenting is 1) ear fatigue and 2) it seems to feel the most natural and balanced in comparison to any other setting. Seems like it was designed for these eq points but they wanted to make the switching option available. Not the best preamp design but it stays out of the way and I mostly run it flat anyway.
Curious what others think. And kudos if you made it this far lol. Lazy weekend afternoons are great!
LH3 wiring help needed:
I have an active Decade Skyline and I am getting loud pops going from active to passive and back.
I am thinking rewire the controls from the beginning and would appreciate some help.
My aim is to have the following:
- Volume
- Blend
- Passive Tone - with .047 resistor
- Mute - Push/Pull
- Passive/active - DPDT - with two little resistors that came with the bass standard
- Series/Parallel - DPDT - I have the chi-sonics with multi coils
LH3
- Bass
- Mids
- Treble set and forget in the cavity.
So far my wiring works, but there's super loud pops when switching active/passive, if I toggle the switch 10-15 times it discharges and I can quietly switch.
The other issue I have, is that the passive tone control works when the preamp is bypassed, but the effect is minimal when the pre is engaged. That isn't critical, but would be good to understand why it barely affects the sound.
If someone can guide me as to how to wire this up in a way that won't be noisy and what resistors to add it would be great.
I also have a 55AJ with a Noll preamp, and it is quiet when going/active passive. Hollowbody 34 with Chi Sonics, also dead quiet. It's just the decade giving me problems.
Here's the culprit:
I have an active Decade Skyline and I am getting loud pops going from active to passive and back.
I am thinking rewire the controls from the beginning and would appreciate some help.
My aim is to have the following:
- Volume
- Blend
- Passive Tone - with .047 resistor
- Mute - Push/Pull
- Passive/active - DPDT - with two little resistors that came with the bass standard
- Series/Parallel - DPDT - I have the chi-sonics with multi coils
LH3
- Bass
- Mids
- Treble set and forget in the cavity.
So far my wiring works, but there's super loud pops when switching active/passive, if I toggle the switch 10-15 times it discharges and I can quietly switch.
The other issue I have, is that the passive tone control works when the preamp is bypassed, but the effect is minimal when the pre is engaged. That isn't critical, but would be good to understand why it barely affects the sound.
If someone can guide me as to how to wire this up in a way that won't be noisy and what resistors to add it would be great.
I also have a 55AJ with a Noll preamp, and it is quiet when going/active passive. Hollowbody 34 with Chi Sonics, also dead quiet. It's just the decade giving me problems.
Here's the culprit:
Any DJ preamp these days is pretty much DIY. Most of them you can just replace the traditional jazz plate by the DJ plate. I recently spoke to John East about it. He stopped offering the DJ-Retro because Lakland was charging him $30 per DJ plate.
I was able to fit an East J-Tone on a DJ plate, because the J-Tone doesn't have switches. When they have switches you need to drill the plate and it is not something I can do. The Audere drop-ins will also need holes for the light and/or the switch. Maybe better off getting the Audere 3-knob on a DJ plate.
Thanks @macribas and others for your thoughtful responses! The J-Tone seems most appealing out of all the preamp options. I mostly play passive but like to kick in a preamp esp. on bridge pickup to fatten things up. I may have some more questions if I go this route.
Yes...
You can adjust the LH3 down to match the passive volume... But not sure I'd do it....
